P3: Angel of Death
by Catherynne
Summary: Beyond the beaten path lies the absolute end. It matters not who you are. Death awaits you. Rated M for angst, horror, sexual themes and strong language.
1. Chapter 1

The speeding train lurched forward to due some minor error in judgement of the driver and the few passengers left in the cars suffered as a result, stumbling and smashing into nearby walls and poles. At the very last car, an auburn haired girl who was sleeping peacefully just a few moments woke up and her head met the window.

"I'm up MOM!" The girl shouted still half asleep with her arms up in surrender. Nobody yelled back at her and the girl realized that she was not at home. Right. She was in the monorail, headed towards Iwaotdai for her junior year, "Great going, Hamuko. You made a fool yourself in your first hour back!"

Hamuko yawned first, adjusted her ribbon second and checked her phone at the last, flipping through the notifications and wincing when she caught the number of missed calls and angry messages. 12 missed calls from her mom and 5 from her dad. A dozen of text messages demanding to know where she was.

**"We are now approaching Iwatodai Station!"**

The intercom went off and Hamuko stood up, fetching her bag from the compartment up top. She hauled the bag over her shoulder and walked off towards the exit, replying to the text messages and letting her friends and family know that she had arrived safely.

"Iwatodai..."

The mere name of the city scared the living daylights out of her once upon a time. She used to live her parents in the city for a number of years until a horrible accident on the bridge scarred all of three of them and they quickly moved out, swearing never to return because something was terribly wrong with the city. Hamuko could recall the night clearly, an explosion several miles away, several vehicles flipping through the air and a decaying monster with chains and a scythe rushing across the bridge, and barely, only barely missing her car and saving her family from an explosion.

**12:00**

The abnormal conditions of the eerie hour kicked in and Hamuko gave a low sigh, flipping her cellphone shut and stuffing the now useless device inside her pocket. She wasted not a second more and quickly started walking, avoiding the coffins and the puddles of blood.

While she had sworn to stay away from the city, something like a switch was flicked in her mind when she got her scholarship letter from Gekkoukan High School. The modern school had quickly climbed the ranks of prestigious institutions and was one of the most sought after schools in the country. The administration had offered her a generous scholarship but beside that, something inside her heart and soul urged her to return to her hometown.

Mitsuru freaking Kirijo herself had personally called her parents and requested her to join the school as Hamuko was a very bright student herself with her name always on the top of class.

"Maybe... this is for the best." Hamuko said to nobody, just to herself as she followed the directions to the temporary dorm she would be staying in for the time being. Whatever that thing, she was sure it was long gone. It had been 10 years! Maybe the ghost had returned to the spirit world or something because aside from the Weird Hour, everything was normal.

**Rattle****_._**

**Rattle. Rattle. Rattle.**

A cold gust of wind led to a shiver that raced from her face to her toes. She cowered at the chill and wondered about the source as this was the first time she had ever experienced such an icy blast of cold air in the hour. Not wanting to stick around and find the answer, the auburn hair girl ran through the dead streets all the way to the dorm, completely out of breath when she arrived there.

"I need to sleep." Hamuko pressed on the knob and opened the door. She stepped inside and gasped, eyes closing in a reflex when another blast of cold air struck her body, strong enough to ruffle her clothes and mess up her hairstyle.

Where on earth where they coming from!?

Hamuko opened her eyes when the chill went away, leaving her shuddering like a cat on a cold rainy day. Now, she was regretting even coming back, her head at least, her heart was still urging her to not go back home. At least not yet.

"Huh."

To her side, on the counter of the dorm was a file. Flipping over the neat red cover, she found a single page and upon reading over it was a contract. A blank contract about accepting responsibilities for her actions. Maybe this was a dorm formality?

Looking to avoid more demonic blasts of cold air, the girl took the nearby quill and scribbled her name on the bottom of the contract.

Yuki Hamuko.

She placed the contract back on the counter and looked towards the stairs, catching frantic footsteps and sharp pants.

"Who's there!?"

"Oh boy."

* * *

After almost getting shot in the face on her first day, Hamuko found herself in her dorm room by the girl who had pulled a pistol on her. She also met the Kirijo heiress and aside from the gun business, the two girls were not too bad. Pity the room was temporary because it was actually quite nice. After unpacking the bare essentials, she stripped out of her uniform and into comfortable shirt and shorts. She dove under the covers and hummed herself to sleep.

The rattling continued long after Hamuko went to sleep.

Rattling of chains.

Swings of a scythe.

A curious huff.

A glance at the contract.

Back to work.

The most God awful job in the world.

"Interesting..."

* * *

**Author note : NO SMUT! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH! What am I doing with my life?**

**In all seriousness, first non smut story from moi. I had a few ideas and I decided to go with this one. I am still figuring this out but I have the basic idea nailed! ... like Makoto nailed Hamuko in my other stories~ **

**Jokes. This is not a long story and will finish in a couple.**

**As usual, I beseech you to review! No fun in writing when nobody wants to see this continue :c **

**I want you to guess! Guess what the heck is going on cause I looooove predictions.**

**Shout out and hugs to my co-author. He shall not be named but a round of applause for them everybody. **

**See you next time!**


	2. Chapter 2

After a decent night of sleep, Hamuko woke up early morning and after a quick message to her parents she spent the next few hours preparing for the first day of school. The somewhat abnormal last night was still lingering in the back of her mind but Hamuko dolled herself up the best she could and she was ready when Yukari knocked on the door.

"Are you ready to go?" The pink loving brunette asked and got an eager bob as a reply.

"Totally!" Hamuko exclaimed. She still wanted to ask her about last night, particularly the sudden blasts of cold which seemed to accompany a presence nearby but decided against the question for the time being.

The monorail trip was uneventful but Hamuko did swoon over the view much like her new friend who explained the history of the island and the school, getting nods from the new transfer student until the monorail came to a stop. Hamuko had to coo in awe at the school building, possibly the most grand looking school in the city and no doubt the most prestigious she had been to so far.

After a quick tour, the two females stopped at the shoe lockers and Yukari gave her further instructions.

"The classroom assignments are right over there." She pointed over to the crowd of people pushing each other to check their homerooms. Hamuko gulped at that and her friend continued when she noticed her hesitance, "The faculty office is right there to the left. Any questions?"

"Not at the moment. Thanks!" Hamuko thanked her and the two parted. Deciding that the notices were too crowded, Hamuko headed for the faculty. As soon as she entered, a brunette teacher noticed her and called her over.

"Are you the new student?" The teacher, Toriumi asked and Hamuko nodded cheerfully.

"Yes, mam!" The brunette replied with a smile.

Toriumi flipped through her file, catching nothing extraordinary, "Spent most of your years in Tokyo, I see." another glance at the file left her smiling. "Your positions through your academic career are quite stellar and we are happy to have you with us. Welcome to our school!"

"Thank you, mam!" Hamuko bowed a little. She was used to being welcomed into schools like this, as her parents always provided the best education and home tutors. The family was pretty well off and Hamuko had no other issue to worry about in her early years. She did shudder to think what would have happened to if her parents had died in the accident years ago. "I-I am happy to be here!"

Toriumi smiled at her enthusiasm and then guided her towards the auditorium. Hamuko sat through a few boring speeches, gossips and a couple of boys asking the relationship status of herself and Yukarim just the normal events on the first day of school. Once the speeches were over, Hamuko introduced herself to the class but there was something strange as she stood on the podium and an uncanny sense of deja-vu came over her momentarily as if the routine had been done before.

Ah well. Better than getting blasted by cold air at random.

After a few shorts lectures and a lot of ramblings, school was out. The brunette was packing the books into her backpack when an unfamiliar face stopped next to her desk.

"Sup, dude?" The cap clad male with a slight stubble said with a grin so wide, like he was greeting an old friend.

Hamuko cocked her head in response.

"You look like a deer in headlights!" The boy chuckled and Hamuko did note that the smile was friendly. Slightly, maybe 50 percent creepy but a bit of friendliness too.

"Can I help you?" Hamuko asked politely but not with too much enthusiasm.

"I'm Junpei Iori, nice too meet ya!" Junpei introduced himself and Hamuko was appreciative of the fact that he was the only boy who had properly introduced himself instead of getting into her personal space, "I transferred her when I was in 8th grade and I know it's tough being the new kid so..."

"I appreciate that, Iori-kun." Hamuko smiled a bit wider this time, "My name is Hamuko Yuki, nice to meet you too."

"Awesome!" Junpei knew in his heart that this was a beginning to a beautiful friendship until...

"At it again, huh?" Yukari said from the doorway, with an annoyed sigh and a slump of her shoulders.

"Hey, it's Yuka-tan!" Junpei shouted to the extent that Hamuko had to reel back some. Still, he was not too bad and it was good that he knew Yukari somewhat as well, "I didn't think we'd be in the same class again!"

Yukari approached the two students, giving a quick smile to the new student and a glare to the boy, "At it again huh?" the brunette commented with another wry sigh, obviously a little annoyed with Hamuko's new friend, "I swear you will talk to anyone who will listen. Have you ever thought you would be bothering someone?"

"But I was just being friendly to the new kid!" Junpei defended himself or at least attempted to for a while until Yukari turned towards Hamuko, ignoring his protests and defense.

"Anyway, some co-incidence that we'd be in the same homeroom, huh?" Yukari regained a little bit of her smile.

"Dorm-mates and class-mates, good start." Hamuko smiled back. She was happy to have someone she knew in the class with her. Not to mention having Yukari in the dorm and the class would help her in study sessions and exam preparation or in the off-chance she would miss a day of school. Unlikely as that was.

"Haha, yeah." Yukari laughed a little and then Junpei forced himself into the conversation, a little slighted that the two girls were ignoring him.

"Hey, are you forgetting that I am in this class too!?" Junpei said with a sad sigh.

"Oh not at all, Iori-kun!" Hamuko assured, feeling a little bad for the lone male, "I am happy to have two friends on my first day!"

"HAH! Hear that, Yuka-tan?" Junpei boasted but Yukari had none of it, just turning back towards Hamuko with a more serious look on her face.

"Hey, you didn't tell anyone about last night, did you?" She whispered but a little louder than Hamuko would have liked it because Junpei was right next to her, looking at the archer like a hawk and hanging to her every word.

"Uh..." Hamuko scratched the back of her head, noticing that Junpei's jaw falling to the floor with every word he processed.

"I was serious!" Yukari exclaimed, practically shouting at Hamuko and everyone else in the room, "Don't tell anyone about last night!"

Hamuko slammed her head onto the desk.

"L-Last night!?" Junpei almost squeaked behind the archer. Realizing the mistake, although way too late, Yukari started yelling at Junpei. Hamuko tried to block out most of her screeching, embarrassed as much as her friend but she was also thankful that the homeroom was empty save for the three.

"You better not start any rumors!"

Was the last bit she heard and then Yukari stormed off, still yelling warnings and threats at Junpei who was not too bothered. When the door slammed shut, Hamuko rose up, rubbing the aching spot on her forehead.

"Is she gone?" Hamuko asked quietly. She liked Yukari and all but that was a stupid choice of words.

"Yup." Junpei confirmed and then laughed, "She is way too paranoid."

"Who cares about rumors anyway?" Hamuko added.

"Right? Ah well..." He straightened his cap and turned back towards the new transfer student, "But still, you have people already talking about you."

"Oh boy." Hamuko almost slammed her head against the table again. Another normality on the first school day.

"But hey, my offer is still open. If you have any problems, you can tell your old pal Junpei about it." Junpei offered his hand with another wide grin. Hamuko giggled and shook his hand, detecting nothing creepy and forceful from him.

"I'll hold you to it, Junpei-kun."

"I can show you around the city if you'd like?" Junpei said.

Hamuko hurled her backpack over her shoulder. "Sorry but I have to be somewhere today." she said apologetically. As much as she missed her hometown, she had to be elsewhere today, "I'd be happy if you guided me towards the school gates though."

"You got it."

After getting another small tour of the school, Hamuko said goodbye to Junpei and ordered a cab because the monorail was way too crowded for her liking, not to mention after the fiasco in the homeroom she wanted to avoid her fellow school-mates. After a little sight seeing, Hamuko withdrew a couple of thousand yen using her father's ATM card and went shopping, purchasing extra school supplies, more clothes and beauty products.

She toured some parts of the city on her own, catching a few apartments that were fairly well built, expensive but worth the cash from the looks of them. Her father had suggested renting or even purchasing her an apartment closer to school but Hamuko decided on staying at the dorm, especially because Mitsuru Kirijo was living there too. Her presence in the dorms was a big factor for Hamuko but maybe, next year she would take up her father's offer.

"Maybe with a boyfriend?" Hamuko giggled to herself, stuffing her shopping bags into another cab and returning back to the dorm close to nine.

After signing her attendance on the counter, Mitsuru greeted her from the sofa while reading a french novel.

"Welcome back." Mitsuru said, looking a little stern when she noticed the time her junior came back at, "You are pretty late."

"I had stuff to take care of." Hamuko laughed nervously, lifting the shopping bags and praying Mitsuru would let her off the hook, "Sorry, senpai..."

"Just be careful." Mitsuru advised. "We do have a curfew and the streets are not safe at night."

"I will, thank you." Hamuko bowed her head at the hieress and after bidding her a good night sleep, she trotted up the steps with her bags. She barely made her way back to her room and collapsed onto her bed with a tired sigh.

That was close.

After half an hour of just listening to music and playing with her cellphone, Hamuko unpacked the stuff she had brought and...

"Wow..."

During the process of setting up her new room, she found a camera in the corner.

"Cheeky..."

Hamuko grabbed an empty bottle to smash the device at first but after musing over the consequences she grabbed a chair and wrapped several layers of clothing around the lenses, effectively blinding whoever was watching.

"God, I changed my clothes here..." Shuddering at the thought, the brunette resumed her work and stayed awake long into the night.

But...

During the abnormal hour, the cold seeped into her room and Hamuko shivered and not just because of the chill. She could have sworn there was another presence in the room beside her and the cold was just a side effect of the invisible entity being close by.

"H-Hello?" Hamuko muttered but received nothing in return. A thought came to her mind about waking up Mitsuru and asking her about the dead spirit that was haunting the dorm but as soon as she thought of the rather ill fated idea, the presence disappeared and some warmth returned to the room. Hamuko was left speechless and scared but soon after, the Dark Hour came to an end and Hamuko distracted herself by listening to music and chatting with her old friends.

Maybe she was going to buy that apartment a lot sooner than she had planned.

Soon enough, the brunette fell into a troubled sleep.

"Master Hamuko Yuki!"

The voice rang from far, far away.

A blinding flash of light yanked her awake from sleep and Hamuko came to her senses inside...

"What the?"

A large elevator decorated in velvet, with two, not quite human looking people opposite to her chair. A short man with bloodshot eyes and a long nose and standing next to her was a tall, silvered hair female with a flight attendant uniform and a blue cap.

Hamuko herself was seated on a chair opposite to the old man who was smiling at her.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room," The man with an abnormally large nose said, "My name is Igor and I am delighted to make your..."

Igor stopped in the middle of his greeting and gave a more welcoming smile, having noticing something that truly brought happiness to his heart. Beside her, the girl gave a nostalgic smile, caressing the book that she was holding in her grip.

It took a few seconds for Igor to compose himself and then he started talking again. "This is Elizabeth. She is a resident here, like myself..." He gestured over to Elizabeth. The female bowed at the newest guest and Hamuko could only nod back as a reflex.

"Uh... Why am I here?" Hamuko asked the basic question, freaked out and confused with her surroundings and the creatures residing in the abnormal space.

"This place exists between dream and reality. Mind and matter." Igor explained and Hamuko lost more of her brain cells. She decided not to ask more and just waited for the dream to boil over. Igor somehow sensed her unwillingness and clicked his finger. Soon as he did that, Hamuko sunk back into the seat, noticing the red contract that she had signed a few ago spawning on the table.

"Henceforth you will be welcome here in the Velvet Room!" Igor carried said. "You are destined to hone your unique ability, and you will require my help to do so. I only ask one thing in return...that you abide by the Contract, and assume responsibility for the choices you make."

"What is even going on here!?" Hamuko demanded.

Elizabeth chuckled and Igor clicked his fingers once more. Hamuko felt something metallic between her grip and spared a glance, noticing a small velvet key resting in her palm.

"Hold onto this..." Igor suggested and bowed briefly, so did the female next to him. "Until we meet again, my dear guest."

Hamuko felt a pull on her body and the room disappeared into darkness. She did catch Elizabeth waving at her all the way until the end, with a smile so cheerful like she had known her for far longer. The brunette returned to the real world and turned on her side, sleeping with the velvet key in her grip.

* * *

"Something..."

This all felt like some sort of a grand plan.

"Is about to..."

Like destiny.

"Something is about to begin..."

More importantly...

"My memories..."

* * *

**Author Note: Chapter 2 done. Mostly a contrasting chapter but stuff will pick up next time! Also, Elizabeth is the attendant here, to answer guest' question. **

**Again, I implore you to review. I am not working on this alone (cookies and hugs to my wonderful co-writer) and I don't want to bother my co-writer with a story no one enjoys or readers. **

**Give me your predictions! **

**And I'll see you soon! Bye!**


	3. Chapter 3

"So now I have a key..."

Hamuko had spent a good amount of her time mulling over yet another mysterious night in the dorm. She could recall the bald short man and the tall silver haired girl welcoming her into a whole nother dimension of blue. While she was freaked out at first, the smiles on the their faces was so welcoming and so full of nostalgia, one which someone would give to an old friend.

A knock on the door snapped her out of her thoughts and Hamuko got up, deciding to pocket the key for the time being. She picked up her backpack and headed out to join Yukari on the walk to school. Just for today she was hoping nothing out of the ordinary would happen. Just one day.

School day was slow and dull, as expected after the first few days of the new semester. She did find Junpei again and got to know more about the school and the city until the bell rang and Yukari dragged her off for some shopping.

Still, she could not completely forget the last night and every now and then, she would reach into the pocket to touch the blue key, to make sure if it was real and and it was, in her pocket and for real. Hamuko did contemplate on hurling the key towards the nearest garbage bin but decided against that, willing to wait and see what was going on.

Hamuko returned to the dorm and saw that Yukari was already there after ditching her in the cafe. She also saw a middle aged man with a brown suit and thick frame glasses seated on the single couch, talking with her new brunette friend. The elder saw him and called her over, assuring that she would be moved into the appropriate dorm soon and while Hamuko was respectful to him, something was off about him or maybe it was an external force that was making her feel that way because the man seemed harmless, aside from the cringe attempts at humor.

Every word he spoke fueled the suspicion in some part of her head and as soon as he left, the feeling subsided.

"I'll have to buy that apartment sooner than I thought." Hamuko muttered and after a goodnight to Yukari she turned in for the night.

"Dear God, please no more weird stuff."

With that prayer, Hamuko closed her eyes, turned to her side and slipped to sleep, fingers crossed that she would not be dragged into the blue room this night.

* * *

Next day was more normal. After running into a sugar high Junpei early in the morning, Hamuko managed to stay up during the whole day and made notes. She made a couple of more friends and left the school to get to know them a bit more. She was quite happy with how her day turned out but on her way back to the dorm, she noted that today was the full moon and said moon looked a lot more eerie than usual.

Just like the previous day, Hamuko prayed for a normal night with nothing creepy and then slept.

Tonight was not that night.

A loud rapping on her door woke her up and the earthquake knocked her out of the bed. Oh God, something was happening again and Hamuko jumped to her feet just as the door to her room was pushed open and a very panicked Yukari came into her view, holding a naginata of all things which she shoved into her hand and then dragged her out of the room.

"We have to move, now!" The pink wearing brunette yelled in a panic and with surprising strength she dragged Hamuko out of her room, not stopping at the tremors shaking the foundation of the dorm.

"Hurry! Downstairs! We'll leave through the back door!"

The two did stop at the backdoor but after a call from someone, a few loud gasps from Yukari and another round of tremors, Yukari backpedaled and dragged her up the stairs, this time, she took her all the way up to the roof of the dorm and closed the door behind them.

"What is going on here!?" Hamuko demanded to know, tapping her foot against the ground with a frown directed at the girl who had taken her on a marathon, "What is wrong with this dorm!?"

"I'll explain everything." Yukari said after catching her breath. "We should be safe here. Listen, we..."

Another quake raced under their feet and this time it was accompanied by a bang. The two females reeled in response to the force and Yukari gasped, being the first one to see a jet black hand grab onto the edge of the roof, followed by more a dozen creeping up behind, with half of the limbs carrying blades. Finally, a creepy mask rose up and Hamuko was frozen solid where she stood as the thing, the mass of limbs and blades lurched over the roof and towards the same place where the two stood.

Never in her wildest nightmare had she ever imagined such a grotesque looking entity, even a peek at the mask and the hollow holes made her shiver. She did not even notice Yukari meekly moving ahead for her to defend her but body language gave it away that she knew that she was outmatched against whatever the hell they were up against.

"These monsters... we call them shadows." Yukari said with a prominent tremble in her already cracking voice. She whipped the familiar gun from out of her thigh holster and Hamuko widened her crimson orbs. Was this girl really looking to shoot herself here of all places?

The creature reacted faster than she could imagine, lashing out at Yukari and sending the girl to the edge of the roof with a single smack. Yukari let out a cry and the gun was send flying from her grip, sliding to a stop next to her feet. The monster then focused its attention on the female still standing with blades already raised for the kill.

Hamuko could only stare in shock as she had been doing for the past few minutes but a small glance at the gun next to her feet almost hypnotized her, easing the fear surging inside. Without regard for the monster or her guard, she cradled the gun into her hands and her fingers slid over the cold metal of the gun. The creature approached rapidly but Hamuko was much calmer than before and then, on instinct and a reflex, she pressed the barrel of the gun to her temple and braced, eyes close and her palm curled around the hilt and one finger on the trigger.

She spoke one word.

"Per...

So...

Na!"

The bang of the gunshot was followed by the shattering of glass, not once but twice, once from inside her head and then from somewhere deeper. Shock and warmth filled her spirit and a blast of blue mist halted the incoming monster. Hamuko looked back briefly, just a small glance over her shoulder to see another entity emerging from the now fading mist, a mechanical figure with auburn hair and a heart shaped lyre strapped to the back.

"Thou Art I..."

The voice was soft and serene and it did much to calm her down.

"And I am thou..."

"From the sea of thy soul I cometh…" The figure behind her, her ally spoke, "I am Orpheus... Master of Strings."

The ghost of a smile went as soon as it came when she felt a storm of dread and a splitting headache tearing through her skull, making her yell and scream when the pain rocked her and nearly knocked her off her feet but she struggled to keep her footing not wanting to fall with the monster still standing there. Her persona felt the pain as well and it convulsed, flickering in and out until a hand shredded out through the mouth and ripped Orpheus from the inside, scattering what remained of the weaker persona across the roof until the bits faded to wisps of mist and from Orpheus he emerged.

A sinister, brutal and towering entity many times larger than the persona she had summoned, face hidden with a bird like mask and a shield of coffins joined to the back by chains, body draped in a mixture of dark blue and black clothes and a katana strapped at the side.

Yukari was one to react in horror when she saw the blue persona emerge from inside the previous one and Hamuko was still screaming and struggling to not pass out, only able to see glimpses of the massacre as the figure glided past her at breakneck speed and cleaved the mass of limbs in half. The monster hissed in actual disgust when it began to mutilate each and every limb with bare hands, ruthlessly crushing the remain of the shadow creature in his grip until the very last limb.

Hamuko had enough of her senses to get a glimpse of the creature that she had summoned, catching the massive entity letting out a bestial roar towards the yellow moon, which was the last thing she saw as her vision turned dark and her body slumped to the cold ground. Still, the blue creature was imprinted and burned into her mind and senses as it reeked off something that she loathed and was terrified of.

Death...

"Hey, Hamuko!" Yukari hurried over to her fallen friend and tried to shake her awake but Hamuko remained motionless too exhausted from the successive summoning and yet the stench of Death was what ultimately knocked her out.

From the command room, Ikutsuki and Akihiko had already left for the roof to attend to the junior but Mitsuru stayed behind, studying the unconscious brunette on the feed. She was no expert and her persona was offense orientated, with very little capability for support but the redhead swore.

She swore that she sensed another presence inside the girl during the summoning.

Not a persona.

Not a shadow.

Something different.

"We have a special case here, it seems."

She then hurried off to call the ambulance.

* * *

Hamuko's unconscious body floated in the abyss, tottering on the boundary of life and death as the exhaustion had truly pushed her mind and body to the limit. Just a little slip and...

"Interesting girl..."

A figure emerged out of thin air, eyes curiously studying the unconscious girl in his domain. Something about the female was oddly familiar but work was work and the male slowly floated towards his prey, swiping his fringe backwards to get a better look.

"Hmmm..."

She looked terrified, mouth half open in a horrified scream that never came out.

The male raised his weapon, a massive scythe even larger than the wielder in height but the reaper held it without issue, as if the scythe was weightless and he wondered briefly on where to stab.

The heart for a quick and easy death.

Or the stomach for a long and cruel death.

_SMASH_

The scythe slipped from his grasp and silver eyes widened for a few seconds, forcing the male to rest the blade down briefly and clutch his head as his psyche writhed with pain as if being invaded with something foreign.

Something lost to him long ago.

"Ugh..."

Hamuko flickered as the male struggled to contain the pounding in his head.

"I remember..."

"I've been here before..."

"My name..."

The male looked down with one eye and hissed when the female started breathing faintly, probably due to a influx of medicines to take care of the deathly exhaustion. Eventually, she disappeared from his domain, slipped right from his grasp and that was first time that had ever happened.

"My name is..."

The pain subsided and and the male drew his hand back to stare at the strands of blue hair that he had ripped off.

For the first time, far back as he could remember, he was surprised and slightly shaken.

"Minato Arisato..."

* * *

**Author Note: Hiiiiiiiiiiiii! Laaaaate update but I sort of lost the drive for this story and college started again so...**

**Anyway, let me know what you think and I'll see you soon! **

**Bye~**


	4. Chapter 4

Thousands in an hour.

Hundred of thousands in a day, at the very least.

Some early.

Some late.

But everyone met the same fate, for there was no escaping him.

Most were knocked out, peacefully sleeping through the surreal moment until the stab.

At first he used to contemplate, and sometimes even went for the painless way of stabbing the heart for a quick and easy release but work started piling up fast and now it was always a stab in the gut or the chest, most of the time with his eyes followed by a swipe to drag the soul out the body and into the eternal resting place.

For those unfortunate few who were awake during the ordeal were already dead when they saw him, an emotionless husk standing over them with a scythe in his grip and the essence of death in his cold silver eyes.

"Rest in peace..."

This was the most god-awful work to do in the world. His job was to separate loved ones, take the life of old people and children and suffer the hatred as well the fear of everything living and breathing across space and time. No questions asked, he was the most despised entity born out of the sea.

For he was Death.

"Y-You monster!"

Slice.

Minato silenced the old lady and wiped the blood on the corner of his mouth with the back of his sleeve, not even blinking at the gore for he had gotten used to this long ago.

"Huh..."

In fact, he liked his job.

He loved it.

It just felt right in a way.

Every life he took, he felt better and better.

Like he was righting a wrong he made long, long ago.

When the old lady was ultimately silenced and passed on, the blue haired entity moved across the worlds.

He was already looking forward to the next one.

* * *

Hamuko shivered as soon as she woke up like, having slept through a never ending nightmare of a figure with a scythe shifting side to side. He would never move forward but every shift of his shoulder would make her scream in her own throat, reverberating through her own skull in a never ending echo.

Oh boy was she glad to wake up from that.

She sneezed and was repulsed at the gross taste in her mouth. Figures, she was out for a long time after whatever the hell happened at the rooftop.

Another shiver almost made Hamuko slap herself for doing what she did at the rooftop. She had saved Yukari's life so it was not all too bad but she swore to herself to not do anything as heroic as that ever again. She had not been that close to death in a very long time, the last time she was...

Sweat starting forming on her brow and her red eyes paled upon remembering that night but luckily someone was next to her to snap her out of an impending breakdown.

"Thank Goodness, you came to."

Next to her was Mitsuru Kirijo, seated on a chair close to her bed. The upperclassman gave a short sigh of relief when she saw that the junior was finally awake, after more than a week of rest after that... abnormal summoning.

Even now, Mitsuru was a little hesitant to approach her after what she had seen and felt. What she felt was a palpable surge of fear and terror. The fear definitely came from Hamuko but the terror was unlike anything she had ever felt before and that too came from the same girl.

"Oh, senpai!" Hamuko tried to sit up but her arms collapsed under her own weight and she was on her back. "Hahaha, ouch."

"Rest easy, you are still recuperating." Mitsuru said, helping her get in a more comfortable position. "You had us all worried for a while."

"S-Sorry." Hamuko muttered and then started when the events from the rooftop began to set in. That monster. The gun. How she shot herself when she heard a voice and the... Thing that came out from Orpheus and almost gave her a brain aneurysm.

Fear and terror began to set in, and so did anger, anger at herself for acting like that. She was face to face with death and she barely made it out alive with the skin of her teeth.

"W-What was that thing?" Hamuko asked after the dilemma and Mitsuru got up from the seat, brushing her red locks backwards as she thought of a suitable answer.

"I apologize but I will explain everything once we get back to the dorm." The older female said and faced Hamuko with a kind smile. "I am glad that you are alright. Please, take it easy. A car will come to pick you up whenever you are ready to leave the hospital."

Hamuko was tempted to ask her and get all the information right there and then but a hospital was probably not the best place for a heated interrogation so she decided to wait just like Mitsuru had suggested. She gave a nod and Mitsuru walked towards the door and then it suddenly struck Hamuko.

"Wait... did my parents call?" Hamuko gave a small gasp in horror and Mitsuru visibly stiffened at her words. She took a second to recompose herself and spoke after a despairing silence.

"Yes they did... countless times, in fact."

"Oh my God! What did you say?!"

"Things you would be better off not knowing..."

Hamuko had her mouth open in shock as Mitsuru left the room. She was truly terrified of calling her parents after this. Oh God, they were going to cut her allowance, or worse, just stop giving her any at all which meant...

"I have to work!"

After enduring a severe scolding from her parents for not watching her step, cracking her head, almost getting kidnapped and then getting rescued like a damsel in distress, Hamuko actually did crack her head when she tried to get up from the hospital bed. Her body was still weak and numb from the week of inactivity but after half hour of learning how to talk again, Hamuko called for the car and rode back to the dorm, eager for answers.

Yukari greeted her with a hug as soon as she entered the door to the dorm but did not say much and guided her towards the fourth floor, to a command room of all places where everyone else was already waiting for her, eagerly in fact.

"I am so glad to see you again." Ikutsuki said with a half kind and half creepy smile, a smile a scientist would give to a lab rat before experiments. "Please have a seat and oh, I believe I mentioned him earlier but this is Akihiko."

Ikutsuki gestured towards a silver haired senior who Hamuko had briefly seen before at the school lockers. Akihiko gave a nod and a smile. "How ya doing?"

Ikutsuki cleared his throat and began with his explanation. "Okay let me start off by asking you this, would you believe me if I said that a day consisted of more than twenty-four hours?"

Everyone caught the shiver and the grimace on the face of Hamuko when the chairman finished. She could only nod at first. "Y-Yeah, that creepy hour that happens at midnight."

Mitsuru carried on Ikutsuki's briefing. "We call that the Dark Hour. A time period hidden between one day and the next."

"What was that monster on the rooftop?" Hamuko asked the first question. She had been aware and afraid of the abnormal hour for quite some time but she had never come anything as terrifying as that thing on the roof.

"We call them shadows." The other senior, Akihiko, answered her question. "They only appear during the Dark Hour, and attack anyone not in a coffin. It's our job to defeat them. ...Sounds exciting, huh?"

Mitsuru was about to scold her fellow classmate but Hamuko stood up. She could definitely see where this was going.

"W-What do you want from me?" The brunette, tapping her foot and upon that, Mitsuru opened the briefcase that was on her lap, now clicked open to reveal an armband with the word 'SEES' and a pistol that made her blanch.

"We are a group, the specialized extracurricular execution squad, SEES for short." Mitsuru pushed the briefcase in her direction and Hamuko only gazed at the two objects inside. "We are a group dedicated to fight shadows."

"Although rare, there are those who can function during the Dark Hour. Some may even awaken to a power that enables them to fight the Shadows. That's "Persona"-the power you used the other night. The Shadows can only be defeated by Persona-users. Which means, it's all up to you guys." Ikutsuki said with another creepy smile and Hamuko was starting to understand the weird vibe around the guy.

Up to her, huh?

"We want you to join us." Mitsuru looked her in her crimson eyes with an almost pleading look in hers as she edged the briefcase ever so slowly in her direction. "We have prepared an evoker for you. We would like you to lend us your strength."

Ikutsuki, the two seniors, even Yukari were all looking at her with a sparkle in their eyes, silently begging her to grab the gun and go out to fight the monsters and save everyone.

Hamuko took a second to process.

Although her mind was made up from the starting.

And the answer was a reflex, said with no hesitance.

"I refuse."

The room fell into a stunned silence upon her instantaneous response, almost too fast for them to wrap their heads around. She had refused the offer point blank, without any hesitance and from the tone, her decision was final and there was no changing that.

"W-What?" Mitsuru was taken aback by the curt answer. "Please think about this for a second."

"I did and my answer is still no." Hamuko shook her head, already taking a couple of steps back to distance herself from the group of shadow fighters or whatever they were, she just wanted no part of what they were offering. "I am... I can't join you guys."

"But why?" Akihiko had stood up too at that point. She had summoned not one but two personas, one of which was strong enough to shake the dorm and yet she had refused. "We need the help!"

"Please, think this through!" Ikutsuki pleaded, although there was a hint of anger behind the facade.

"Why?" Hamuko took a brief look at her shoes and then towards the seniors. "Do you see a hero when you look at me? I am not one. I am a coward because I was THIS close to losing everything, including myself and I don't want to get close to that horror, ever again."

Mitsuru seemed almost ticked off but there was no use forcing her into fighting the shadows. Instead, she closed the briefcase and gave a sigh of defeat.

"I'm sorry, I will pray for you guys and I hope you win but... I just can't." Hamuko said with her head lowered, a little ashamed to look at them but her answer was not going to change. She had her parents, her family, old friends and a whole life ahead of her and he was not going to jeopardize that after coming so close to losing all of it once upon a time.

"If that is the case... you cannot stay here." Mitsuru said with her arms crossed. "This dorm is exclusively for members of the group."

"I paid the expenses of the dorm in advance, and for an entire year." Hamuko countered. "If you want me out then refund the payment and I'll buy an apartment. I still have to attend school, and you can't kick me out just because I refused to join your group!"

Mitsuru now seemed really to lash out at the junior but she stopped and sweat rolled down her weary face, contemplating the consequences of kicking Hamuko out. She was still a student of a school and her responsibility.

"Very well." Mitsuru spoke again after another tense silence. "You can stay here until we figure out the dorm issue."

"Thank you." Hamuko gave another curt response and left the room in the blink of an eye, slamming the door shut loudly to send a message that her mind was not going to change. She slumped against the door when she emerged out of the command room and gave a long, weary sigh.

"No, I am not doing that." Hamuko reminded herself, chanting out loud. "Never. Never. Ever."

Godspeed to all of them but fighting life and death... just the mention of the cruel reality brought her shivers. Life and death battles were not her thing. Anything that reeked off death, she wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.

It had been years but she was still terrified, shaken and phobic of the dark and cold grave. The death of her other family members only worsened her phobia of the relentless and remorseless hunter that separated loves ones and cursed lives.

Death.

Hamuko made her way towards her room, now seriously thinking about getting an apartment. After that truth bomb, she had a feeling that she would not get along with Mitsuru. Ah well, all depended on her. The moment she refunded the payment of living expenses, Hamuko would go out and buy that apartment and carry on her normal high school life.

Her answer was not going to change and she had already put everything behind her. She was happy being a normal teenage girl.

Hamuko entered her dorm room with a firm belief that she had put all that behind her and would not participate in anything abnormal and paranormal ever again.

How wrong she was...

The cold was so, so much worse than before with her own breath frosting and the electronic heater barely able to function.

Tonight was the night.

Nothing would be the same ever again.

Tonight was the night she came across him for the first time.

"W-Who is there?" Hamuko shrieked and only stopped the shout with her hand shutting her mouth. She was not alone, and the presence was a lot more real and suffocating than before. "C-Come out or I'll yell for help!"

She felt a pressure on her back and repeatedly yelled at herself not to turn around and see but her movement came as a automatic reflex as well, as if she was being attracted by a magnet to face the opposite direction.

"..."

She saw a glimpse of cold silver and dark blue in the shadows by the corner of her room. Nothing horrifying to look at but the essence in the silver eye was enough to crash her system and send her to the ground in a quivering mess but she could not even register the fall even when she fell hard on her ass.

"W-Who are you?" Hamuko demanded to know and despite trying to shout and alert the others her voice barely came out.

The figure moved out from the shadows and came into her line of sight and the impending yells died in her throat when she finally saw him, almost mesmerized by the appearance of the intruder in her room, who had stepped out from the darkness and was now looking down at her.

Standing across from her was a boy, much taller than her with dark blue hair and silver eyes, dressed up in what seemed to be the uniform of the school, tattered and sliced in some places and the emblem missing.

"Hmm..."

Hamuko could only stare at him, could not help but stare at him even if it felt that her corneas were burning with every second. Even with the tattered clothes and the poker face, the boy was strikingly handsome, almost angelic with his features and mysterious, which made her want to know him so much more.

But then...

The scent and vibe from him was worse any nightmare she had endured, and Hamuko was wishing he would disappear from her sight and go burn in hell. There was an almost visible distortion of reality around him from the despair and fear that he was giving off just by standing there and breathing the same air as her.

The boy was a paradox and definitely not human, not just a random intruder or burglar. Nothing had messed up her thought process this bad and she did not know whether to coo over him or yell at him to stay away.

He was wondrously perfect and terribly awful at the same time.

Like a twisted distortion of perfection.

Minato moved further from the shadows and Hamuko crawled to get away from her, clasping her mouth with both her hands when she saw a massive scythe, almost her own height in his right hand a thick chain wrapped around his left hand. A crack of his neck made her clench her fists and he came even closer, thankfully with his weapon still lowered but that did not calm her down one bit.

"W-Who are you!?" She demanded to know with a yell this time and a spark of discomfort crossed his face because she had annoyed him. "T-Tell me!"

"Question is..."

His voice was just like him, so soothing to listen to, like a sleeping melody but at the same time so potent with fear like the screech of something inhuman.

"Who are you?" Minato returned the question and came to a stop, glancing down at her frozen body with what seemed like minor interest but overall disappointment and contempt, with a hint of disgust as well.

Nothing came from her and the entity lost his patience, snapping at her.

"Answer, you fool! Who are you?" Minato only barely raised the scythe and Hamuko blurted out what he wanted while smashing into the wall behind her.

"H-Hamuko! My name is Hamuko!"

"Hamuko, huh?" Minato rubbed his chin and began making her way towards her again, furthering terrifying the brunette. She tried to make an escape but a small stare was enough to kill whatever plan she was trying to formulate.

"Just occurred to me... apparently my name is Minato." He said with a low voice as he crouched down to her level, a little pleased to see the white on her face, gripped with fear just by his presence. "You had something to do with that."

"..."

"You made me remember that."

"I-I..."

He was so close to her, and she could see herself own quivering self in his large, silver eyes. She wanted to stare at them forever but the crude mixture of everything unholy made her face the other way and just then, she started losing her vision.

Just as her body started losing the heat.

Her mind starting losing the sanity and rational thought.

Minato stood up when he figured out what was happening. "Tch!" More disgust was plastered on his face by now as he looked down to see Hamuko breathing softly, eyes half open as she hugged herself to keep warm, still shaking and whimpering in his presence while her mind started going blank.

Last thing she saw a scowl on his face as her consciousness faded in terror, leaving a burning imprint of fear in her heart and soul. She was never going to be the same again.

Minato actually raised his scythe for a bit thinking that she was dead but she had merely passed out and that left a bad taste in his mouth.

The girl was a coward and while he was somewhat intrigued by her, he was not going to do her any favors.

After all, he took no prisoners and enjoyed his work.

When the moment would come, he was going to take her life.

And he was going to enjoy it.

* * *

**AUTHOR NOTE! ZOMG!: AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! I am so sorry for the long but studies really kicked it up a notch and I am in the last stages so things got busier and I couldn't find the time. I have not left this story and I will finish this, even though Imma be honest and say that the lack of feedback hurt a lil :I**

**Anyway! Minato finally showed up and holy messiah this might be the hottest headcanon I have for him! Too bad he knocked Hamuko out but can you blame her!? Too much hoooootness! So much that it became cold XD **

**I hope you enjoyed this I am a little rusty and I wrote this all on my tab so I am a little worried about the quality. Now that he has graced us, the story is going to move forward. Please tell me yours thoughts as I greatly appreciate everything, even critique! **

**I will see you on the other story! Bye bye!**


	5. Chapter 5

Hamuko shivered throughout the night, suffering through countless nightmares after the entity she had come across, just after swearing to put all the supernatural stuff that had happened behind her. She woke up at six in the morning, preferring to stay low because her limbs were still numb and cold. She laid there, head on the ground and eyes staring at nothing in particular, just wallowing in the terror of the blue haired demon she had seen in her room last night.

She touched her eyes and realized that she had cried sometime during the ordeal, or maybe, all the way through and even in her sleep. Eventually, she stood up from the cold floor and stumbled towards her bed, quickly wrapping the blanket around, desperate to get some warmth in her ice cold system. Hamuko sat on the edge and hugged her knees, vision still unfocused and mind reeling. She tried hard to get her bearings but no matter how much she focused, the girl could not forget what had happened last night.

There was a burning imprint of the cold, seizing fear on her heart and soul and the night was forever burned into her senses, never to be forgotten. Hamuko cried some more, beating herself up for coming back when everyone had advised her not to go. Why did she come back? For some reason, her stupid, stupid heart edged her to do so, when she had so many other options.

The city was cursed. The event last night made cemented that, first the accident and now this. Just what in the seven circles of hell was the boy? They had been in the same room for roughly 30 seconds and Hamuko was already half-insane, broken and scarred to the point that just remembering his face made her weep.

At seven, she stood up, picked up some clothes and took a long, hot shower, emptying the reminder of tears as she still had school to go through. Every few minutes or so, she would look behind her shoulder to make sure the blue haired boy was not lurking.

What did he call himself? Hamuko struggled to remember but eventually, she recalled his name. He said his name was Minato, meanwhile, Hamuko thought he nothing less than Satan and Lucifer. He also did mentioned something about her connection to his memories. The thought paled her face. Oh God, from what he said that was not the last she had seen of him.

"No, he'll leave me alone. I have nothing to do with him." Hamuko chanted to herself as she stepped out of the shower. He did display minor disappointment and that was good. She was nothing special and wanted nothing to do with him, or his memories but at the same time...

Some part of her, a tiny little iota did want to see him again. Everything about him was cold and demonic but at the same time, he was almost breathtakingly handsome even with his messy hairstyle and ragged clothing. Hamuko shook her head. He was definitely handsome but she doubted she was going to live after a few more encounters with a demon like that. For the sake of her sanity, she prayed to every deity she knew to never cross her paths with him again.

After getting ready with the least amount of make-up ever, the brunette went down to the ground floor. Just as her bad luck would have it, the other dorm-members were there. While Yukari regarded her with a wave and smile, Sanada chose to say nothing and Mitsuru gave a huff and left as soon as Hamuko came into the kitchen.

"Goodbye, senpai." Hamuko said with a little venom in her voice to let her know her decision was not going to change. Mitsuru was not as nice and graceful as she had previously thought. Even her acceptance to the dorm was a negotiating tactic but the ball was in her court, give her the refund and she would leave. Eventually, Akihiko left as well and the two juniors were alone in the dorm.

"Hey, uh." Yukari was the one to start the conversation.

"My decision is not going to change." Hamuko gave a curt response. "Sorry, but no."

"I understand." Yukari said with a nod and scooted her chair closer to hers. "But... Mitsuru-senpai is not very happy with you."

"I don't doubt that." Hamuko huffed, snatching a piece of toast and a glass of juice. "Senpai likes to manipulate people, I see. Well, I am not playing her game. She can give me my money back and I'll go away, simple as that."

Yukari pondered on her words. She had joined the group upon the first request but that was mostly for her own reasons, and much like Hamuko, she did not get along with Mitsuru very well. "I don't get along with her very well either."

"Neither will I, after last night." Hamuko concurred and after finishing her breakfast she stood up. To hell with the Kirijo monorail, she was going to school on a taxi.

"Hey, are you okay?" Yukari noticed her pale face and asked with genuine concern. "You look sick."

"I-I'm fine." Hamuko lied. "Just a little tired."

Hamuko was almost about to ask Yukari to come along but decided against, wanting to be left alone on the ride to school. After getting a cab, Hamuko opted to play a dumb game on her cell, to think of anything else but last night. She scowled in annoyance when she failed to do so, unable to get his face out of her head.

"What have I gotten myself into...?"

School was hard to get through, and the teacher pointed out several times that Hamuko looked ill and was constantly staring off into the distance. After a quick check at the nurse office, she hung around with Junpei during the lunch break. Hanging out with the capped male was always fun but Hamuko noticed he was much, much happier today, more than usual.

"Hey, Hamu-tan, are you seriously okay?"

Even Junpei was worried at the end of school.

"Just a little tired..."

Hamuko walked a few steps out of the and screeched into her palms to let off some steam. She was starting to see his face in mirrors and feel his presence resurface whenever she was alone, all of this because her scarred mind was playing tricks on her. She decided to do some more shopping and get a better look at the apartments, after all that happened, with Mitsuru and then that boy Minato, she was looking to move out of the hell-hole as quickly as she could.

She came back late to see the dumb group gathered around in the lounge and now, among their ranks, was...

"Hey, Hamu-tan!"

Junpei...

"What did I miss?" Hamuko blinked in confusion, holding onto a dozen shopping bags. Junpei was a part of the group now? Why on earth did he accept?

"Junpei joined. Akihiko-senpai saw him crying in the store a few days ago." Yukari explained. Meanwhile, Akihiko gave a nervous smile and Mitsuru preferred to stare off with her arms crossed.

"And I am glad to be help!" Junpei gave his signature grin and Hamuko tilted her head. He did realize that death was a very real option in battle, right? And she knew that first-hand.

"Why did you join?" Hamuko could not help but ask and this time, Junpei was the one tilting his head in confusion. "I mean, you will be fighting in real battles, not video games."

"Well, duh! This is what a hero does!" Junpei fired back with an even bigger grin. Hamuko fell silent, trying to process his stupidity and courage. Hero?

"Hero? Nobody will even know what you are doing." Hamuko said, dropping her shopping bags. "Again, listen, you could die out there!"

Junpei said nothing but he was a little surprised that Hamuko was trying to talk him out of joining the group that saved lives. He could see that Hamuko was worried but... how could he say no? That thought never crossed his mind and by the way she was talking... Was Hamu-tan a part...

"He joined us." Mitsuru finally spoke up, arms crossed. Hamuko scowled at her senior. She was just recruiting people to die for her cause, for God knows what reason. "That is his decision and his alone, leave it be."

"Whatever!" Hamuko spat and grabbed the bags. After one last glare at the senior girl, she stomped towards the steps, until...

"Wait, does that mean Hamuko is not a part of this group?" Junpei sounded genuinely surprised. Given how friendly and cheerful she was, Junpei was expecting her to be the leader or something. "Why didn't you join?"

"None of your damn business!" Hamuko snapped with a scowl and ran up the steps. Mitsuru pinched the bridge of her nose, irritated from her attitude. She had refused to join but who was she to make decisions for someone else. It was well within her power to kick her out of the dorm and money was not the issue. The issue was...

"Takeba, can you please let her know?" Mitsuru almost pleaded with her junior to be the one to talk to Hamuko.

Hamuko almost chucked her cellphone at the first person who came into her room, oh well, it was Yukari so she calmed down. The pink wearing brunette could still see that her friend was pissed, and even more pale than before.

"Hey, Hamuko... we'll be leaving to explore something just as the Dark Hour starts." Yukari explained, cautiously taking a seat next to the irate female. "You'll be alone, so be careful, okay? We'll be back before the Dark Hour is over."

"Explore what?" Hamuko had to ask. She was seriously annoyed with Mitsuru but she did care for Yukari and Junpei.

"It's a tower that only appears in the Dark Hour. We call it Tartarus." Yukari said and Hamuko did recall a scary looking tower looming over the city. So they were going to explore that? Suicidal move. "Senpai believes we can find answers for the Dark Hour there."

"Why are you doing this, Yukari?" Hamuko questioned and got nothing but silence from her fellow classmate. "It's dangerous out there! You know how we survived that monster on the roof."

"I... have my reasons." Yukari said, fist clenched. She wanted to tell Hamuko but decided not to, not sure whether she would understand, after all, Hamuko had loving parents and no questions haunting her past.

"Be careful." Hamuko said. "And be wary of Mitsuru. She likes to manipulate and play with people."

"You be careful too." Yukari said after standing up. "We'll be back before you know it."

Yukari left and soon after, the Dark Hour rendered the world dead except for a select few. Hamuko sneezed due to the chill and wrapped her blanket around, curling up and opting to just think and wait. Her mind wandered to Mitsuru and she barred her teeth. She was hoping that Mitsuru would kick her out without a refund so she could sue her for every yen that she had.

Meanwhile, Junpei was an idiot. She barely knew Akihiko and given that he was Mitsuru's lackey, she did not want to know him either. Yukari was nice, but Hamuko had the feeling that she was still hiding something from her. Overall, her stay at the dorm had been terrible and tomorrow she was going to talk to her father about buying an apartment.

"Screw this Kirijo dorm." Hamuko said loudly as she was alone in the dorm. "To hell with Mitsuru!"

"You are certainly making friends."

The voice made her freeze and Hamuko snapped towards the source of the terror, weeping and losing her voice, thoughts and sanity with just once glance of the blue haired boy. Unconsciously, she crawled backwards, her eyes, which were moments ago burning red with hatred now pale white with cold fear. The whole day, she was trying to convince herself that last night was a dream, as delusional as that was but Minato had returned, sitting on the chair next to her study desk, chin resting on the frame and his expression even more stoic than last time.

"H-Hey!" Hamuko tried to scream but could only barely let her voice out. "H-Help! Anyone!"

"Coward." Minato hissed, silencing the girl with the displeasure in his voice. Instead, Hamuko clutched her cell-phone and chucked the device at the blue haired boy. Much to her surprise, he caught her phone in his hand hand, more annoyance plastered on his face as he crushed the device in his grip. Minato then stood up, much to her horror. She cried and her back struck the frame of the bed, furiously shaking her head and yelling at him to stay away.

Hamuko stopped with the yelling and could not help but stare when he stood in the moonlight that escaped her window, looking like an angel in the light, as opposed to the demon he looked when he was in the shadows last night. She followed his steps but tensed up again when he came to a stop next to her bed.

"W-Who are you?" Hamuko asked again, shivering inside the blanket. Minato caught the tears escaping her eyes and clicked his tongue, detested by how much of a weakling the girl was. "How did you get inside my room?!"

"Keep it down." Minato warned, putting a finger on his lips to emphasize the point. With another step, Hamuko screeched in fear and made a mad dash to get away, running into the corner of the room. "You are annoying me."

"W-What did you do to me last night?" Hamuko dared ask, shivering uncontroabbly at the thought. She had fallen unconscious after a few moments and the last thing she saw was Minato standing above her. "W-What do you want from me?"

"As if I would waste my time on a coward like you." Minato scoffed, casually walking and trapping her in the corner of the room. Fear was natural in his presence but this girl was crying her eyes out just being in the same room as him.

"T-Then leave me alone." Hamuko pleaded more than she demanded, managing to look him in his silver eyes by some miracle.

"That tower..." Minato ignored her request and gazed out the window, able to spot the tower of demise even from miles away. "Why are you not joining the rest in the exploration?"

"That is none of your damn business!" Hamuko shouted and then clapped her mouth shut. Minato was no longer stoic, his teeth now gritted with annoyance. He walked a few more steps and Hamuko wailed out of horror, promising not to look up at him lest she would fall unconscious again just like last night.

"You are just asking for a cruel death at this point." Minato said with a tilt of his head, blocking her way when she tried to run out of the corner. Hamuko gasped and slumped against the wall, slowly sliding down as Minato backed off her almost lifeless body with a sneer. She was past the point of talking at this point, just a few moments from falling unconscious. Coward was an understatement, as she could not even stay conscious in his presence for a few more seconds and this was the mortal world.

Hamuko was able to catch him crouching down to her level with her right eye. Her scream died down in her throat and she pleaded, shaking her head with tears in her eye, begging him to leave her alone. "P-Please..."

"Stupid." Minato spat and Hamuko closed her eyes, passing out just like the last night. He had no interest in her anymore but...

Minato stopped at the window, staring at the tower with gritted teeth.

"Whatever..."

He gave one last glance at the coward of a female, noticing her cheeks were stained with tears and her mouth was wide open, like she was dead on the inside. With a click of his tongue, he disappeared from her room, reappearing inside his domain where he still had a lot of work to go through. Minato took his time with every soul and while ninety nine of them did flinch in his presence, the stench of fear from the girl was so much different in the other world.

His initial interest was gone and she was just a nuisance to deal with.

Instead, he would focus on doing something that he enjoyed the most.

Taking lives.

* * *

The next few days, Hamuko took several days of holidays from school, shaken and rendered almost stupid by the encounter last night. She refused to open the door for anyone, even Yukari, opting to stay alone, covered in several blankets and the heater on at maximum capacity. Whenever the Dark Hour would start, Hamuko would start praying, pleading the Gods to keep the foul demon out of her room.

Much to her relief, Minato did not appear again after that night and slowly, Hamuko did start to heal enough to the point that she started attending school again. She still had bad run-ins with Mitsuru and the tension between them was still very, very real. Still, Hamuko could not understand why the senior did not kick her out of her precious dorm just yet. Whatever, the choice was hers and Hamuko had already informed her father about buying the apartment even closer to school.

On the fateful day, Hamuko came back from school, late as usual and she stared up at the sky, noticing the moon was full. "Huh, today is a full moon." She did not think much of it and after a hello to Junpei and Yukari, she locked the door to her room and browsed the internet for a bit until she slept.

A horrible siren went off during the Dark Hour and Hamuko heard Yukari yelling and running all the way towards the fourth floor. Hamuko decided to step out and caught Yukari, asking her for information about what the hell was going on.

"There's a shadow, a big one in the city!" Yukari said in a hurry, getting the bows from her room. She grabbed her evoker and carried on explaining. "Senpai says it is in the monorail."

"Who is going with you?" Hamuko asked.

"Junpei and..." Yukari paused for a tad. "And Akihiko-senpai. Mitsuru-senpai will stay back and provide support."

Akihiko? The guy still had a broken arm and he was forced to fight? Hamuko had stayed in the dorm long enough to know that the shadows were brutal, and she had seen a number of injuries on all of her dorm, so how on earth was Akihiko going to fight like that? She clenched her fist but opted not to step in, still afraid of fighting as she only escaped the last big shadow by the skin.

"Be careful!" Hamuko yelled at the retreating Yukari and went back in her room. She wanted to sleep but just could not, instead she hoped and prayed even with the doubt lurking in her heart that she was going to lose a dorm mate... a friend...

After what seemed like a very long time, the door to her room was opened by none other than Mitsuru. She looked bewildered and perhaps for the first time, legitimately scared. Hamuko knew the worse had happened but still hoped for good news...

"They failed." Mitsuru said after the tense silence. "The train crashed and... hundreds died."

Hamuko could only stare in shock, hand to her mouth and tears in her eyes.

"I know we have our differences but please..." Mitsuru did not even have the energy to be angry. Instead, she just pleaded with her. "Please help me get them back."

Hamuko, ashamed and on the verge of tears, got off the bed and left the room.

The two trains had crashed and while the only reason the shadow was killed was because of the impact. Akihiko led the battle but overall, the operation was a disaster and now, with the collision, hundreds of people had died and the scene very much resembled something out of a horror movie. There was going to be a massive outbreak of panic tomorrow, that was for sure.

The first one to arrive at the scene was Minato, with his weapon of choice in hand to deliver the dead to the afterlife. Much like always, he worked swiftly but with devotion, stabbing stomach after stomach to rip the souls of the decaying bodies until eventually, he came to the first car and witnessed a massacre, with spilled blood, broken weapons and mangled bodies.

First, he took care of the two people in the driver seat and then came back to take care of...

"..."

He had no emotion for any life that he took, as this was work but, for the first time as he walked up to and loomed over the lifeless body of Yukari, something ticked inside of his head. She laid there, mangled, beaten, no doubt crying during and after the battle as he saw the dry tears on her face.

Something snapped.

His thoughts went back to that coward, that moronic girl in the dorm.

He had lost interest in her but now...

He detested her.

Minato gave one last look at Yukari and something back came to him. His head was attacked again by the same headache he suffered during the last full moon. This time, the pain went away as soon as it came and after that, when his work was done, the blue haired reaper left the scene of the train-wreck and decided to pay a visit to the dorm.

* * *

Hamuko came back to the dorm just a couple of minutes before the end of the Dark Hour. She was shaken, having to help Mitsuru carry and treat the wounded bodies of her dorm friends. She stumbled towards her bed and sat down, struggling to breath in the accursed air of the Dark Hour, but things were about to get even worse.

The familiar cold came back with a vengeance, and the fear was so much more terrifying than before if that was even possible. Minato had made his presence known and already drained from the disaster at the monorail, Hamuko could not even attempt to yell, instead she just cowered on her bed, silently crying with her mouth wide open, struggling to take her breaths.

Minato stepped out from the corner of her room and he looked angry, teeth gritted and legitimate rage on his usually stoic and dead face. He wasted no time and walked up to her, looking ready to explode and slap the life out of her.

"Y-You came back." Hamuko panted in his presence, curling up and scooting back. "I-I want nothing to do with you, just leave me alone."

"I want nothing to do with a fool like you, either!" Minato almost screamed back at her, his grip on the scythe tightening until his knuckles were bony white. The chain around his other fist was starting to crack as well. Minato could not remember the last time he felt this strong of an emotion, let alone rage. "But you, do you know what you did? You weak, pathetic fool!?"

"W-What are you talking about?" Hamuko had to look up at him and she regretted that almost immediately, witnessing the darkness in his eyes that was almost shinning with layers on top of layers folding onto each other. She froze and forgot the question she had just asked, almost rendered paralyzed but Minato was not done.

"Why did you not aid your so called friends at the monorail?" Minato demanded to know, smashing the blunt end of the scythe into the ground to snap her out of the little bubble she always retreated to. There was no escape tonight and if she was scarred before, this night and the last few minutes were going to be the longest of her pitiful life.

"That is none of your concern, you piece of crap!" Hamuko actually yelled, half in frustration and half in anger. She was already crushed by the death and misery she saw at the tracks and the blue haired boy was not helping one bit. "Who even are you?"

Minato actually stepped back to restrain himself but he managed to talk instead of slicing her head off. "Do you know what you did? You are a Wild Card, a single out of billions and yet you stayed here, crying and praying like the worthless fool that you are, while the others bled out there! Do you know the deaths that YOU caused?"

"S-Stop it." Hamuko warned and pleaded at the same time, turning her head away to ignore the irate male. What was he even mad about? He had no business in that matter.

"The blood is on your hands and I will not let you forget this!" Minato carried on talking, almost yelling at this point as he had left his cool by now. "You should have died tonight, you complete and utter waste of blood and potential!"

"Shut the hell up!" Hamuko snapped back at her worst nightmare, actually surprising herself in the process but the reaction out of Minato, the jerk of his head and the snarl was enough to crush whatever anger that she had managed to draw out.

Minato said nothing and walked up to her, much like always, scaring the soul out of her as she stumbled backwards and fell on the bed behind her. She saw him lifting his scythe and started crying in horror, closing her eyes when he slashed in her direction and she just accepted.

Stab.

Hamuko opened her eye and saw the blade of his scythe stabbed into the mattress of her bed, but the single spark of fear was enough to shut her up for the next few days. Hamuko could only stare at the irate reaper who was struggling to breath out of sheer anger, evident by the blood in his eyes. How he had not taken her life was a mystery to her but... after witnessing his rage, she was good as dead for the next couple of days.

"I am going to enjoy taking your life, you worthless human." Minato promised and crouched down to get to her level, pushing his lips next to her ears and speaking slowly in the coldest voice he could foce out of his system. His voice was so much different than the last time, demonic and something that the grim reaper would whisper in. "And I assure you, it will be the most painful experience, and you will suffer for every second. That is MY promise to you."

"W-What?" Hamuko slumped down, like she did in their last meeting. Minato stood up, the scowl even worse than before and she swore another promise, one that he would keep until the last day of her wretched life.

"Until then, I will make your life a hell." Minato kept on cursing and cursing her, his voice a distortion by this point, like the sound so many souls speaking in unison. "Your family will suffer for what you have done and they will all curse you when they die."

Hamuko had nothing left to make sense of his words but she knew he was not lying. Her eyes started closing, mind and body just about ready to shut down after the horrible day. For the third time, she fainted in the presence of the Grim Reaper in her vision still not able to endure the terror that he brought and it was so much worse tonight. Meanwhile, Minato was not satisfied. He took a glance at his fist and reached out towards her direction.

Last thing the brunette saw was his cold hand before total darkness.

"Pathetic..."

"I-I know..." Hamuko murmured with the little sense she had left.

"Y-You don't have to tell me..."

* * *

**Author Notes: I... was almost sorta crying at the end of this :/ What a horrible first couple of chaps for my OTP but given the conflicting personalities, this will not change soon. I like to stress, Minato is a God, by all accounts in this story so his ideology is very much different, you can infer that from the way he talks. Meanwhile, Hamuko passed out two times in one chapter. This only shows that these two have a long way to go before they can even properly talk. **

**Again, like my request at every chapter. Review to let me know if this was not complete shit and you would like to see more. Until the next chapter, bye-bye!**


	6. Chapter 6

**I AM BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!**

* * *

The shadow had perished from what Mitsuru could gather, either by the hands of the team which consisted of Iori, Takeba and an already crippled Akihiko or by the crash that had devastated both trains and crippled her teammates, especially Akihiko who was already injured but was forced to lead the operation as Mitsuru did not want to gamble the operation AND the lives of her two juniors.

The shadow had perished but Mitsuru still considered the mission a complete and utter failure. The juniors had fought admirably, far exceeding her expectations but it was just not enough. The shadow was simply too much for them and Mitsuru blamed herself the most as she had led the team to the monorail and now, here they were.

In the hospital beds, mangled and unconscious. All three of them had markings of frost bite which led her to believe that the shadow's primary element was ice, a weakness she had failed to decipher with her pathetic scanning and support abilities.

Takeba and Iori were beaten and bloodied but Akihiko was much, MUCH worse, with the ligaments of his already injured arm completely off the bone. The estimated time for his recovery was already a month and now she was looking at at least a few moments of surgery and rehab even with the spells of her persona.

Mitsuru stood by the side of the room and observed with a heavy heart as the doctors and nurses worked on their wounds the best they could. The health of her teammates was one issue. The other big problem was the crash, the devastation of the station and the numerous lives lost. The subway station had been completely sealed off for investigation but the police and the agencies were completely at a lost for words, ignorant to the workings of the shadows in the Dark Hour.

With all that going on and the pressure piling up, Mitsuru had no idea had happened to the lone junior she had left in the dorm.

Hamuko was knocked out much like her dorm fellows, but her injuries were much more than physical. The little episode with the blue haired demon had crippled her senses to the point of break down and even now, after the passing of the whole day she laid broken on the same spot, mouth and eyes forced open in horror.

Mitsuru came back to the dorm briefly to giver Hamuko an update regarding the condition of her friends but then saw the brunette knocked out on her bed. At first she assumed that Hamuko was dead and there was a corpse on the bed but she heard the faint exhale of breath and checked her pulse to make sure that the girl was alive.

She had no idea what had happened or how to proceed. She checked Hamuko for injuries but found none. Nothing. She was not responding to any and all calls and Mitsuru figured this was a case of a mental injury rather one of flesh and bone. She tried her luck at shaking and pleading but nothing came off it and Mitsuru picked up the younger girl and left the room.

All under the watchful eye of Minato who had been holding onto his head for the past day. The memories came a little delayed but just like the last full moon, he regained forgotten memories following the defeat of the shadow.

"I have... been here before..." Minato recalled as he stood from the chair and took a glance around the room of Hamuko.

No, that was not right.

He was on the room below hers.

The last room on the second floor.

"Tch..."

That was not the only difference he could recall.

Yes. He had succeeded in the same mission while the weak, pathetic fool did not even bother answering the call to arms. He could not fathom why Mitsuru even bothered a second on the pitiful girl. She should have left her to die from the depression and fear, allow her to slip to his domain so he could teach the fool some respect and humility.

"What am I...?" Minato wondered for the first time he had gotten his senses. "Who am I...?"

No.

It did not matter. What mattered the most was the present. The scythe in his hand to kill and the chain in his other hand to drag people to where they belonged.

Nothing else mattered.

Eventually, Hamuko did recover after a cocktail of strong antidepressants and anxiety drugs and the first person she saw was Mitsuru sitting beside her looking worried for her health. The redhead was not exactly on friendly terms with Hamuko. A part of her was even fed up with her almost instigating attitude but even with the mutual displeasure, Hamuko was still a junior and her responsibility at the end of the day.

"Are you well?" Mitsuru asked.

Hamuko said nothing and just gave a nod. She was finding it hard to form the words in her mouth still not completely healed from the breakdown.

"What happened to you?" Mitsuru asked shifting closer to the still shivering junior in hopes of comforting her. "Who did this to you? Tell me what they looked like and I will search the whole island."

Hamuko simply looked at her. Was she really concerned or was this just another attempt at manipulation to join her team? Hamuko sat in silence, refusing to answer but at the same time, she did not want to risk incurring the wrath of whatever Minato was. Nor did she wanted to be labelled as insane and shipped off to a mental institution.

"I... don't know." Hamuko replied after a long while still not looking at her upperclassman.

"Are you sure?" Mitsuru probed her again, genuinely concerned about her condition.

"YES!" Hamuko almost spat out and then collapsed back on the bed, covering her face with the pillow to signal the end of the conversation. With not much else to do, Mitsuru whispered her to take care and stood up.

By the time she reached the door, the red haired senior looked back with a frown.

Were the shadows responsible for what happened? The dead look Hamuko had certainly resembled the decay of people with apathy syndrome but then again, drugs were never able to cure those people but Hamuko had been brought back to her senses.

At first she had thought there was something strange about the girl.

Now... there was something very wrong.

Mitsuru closed the door as she left. Hamuko poked her head from under the already stained pillow and whimpered, remembering the warning Minato gave her before he crashed her nerves and senses.

"Make my life a living hell..."

Hamuko gulped, already feeling the dread and a dull pressure on her back and neck. She sat with her head straight, refusing to look at her sides or at her back, fearful that Minato would appear to torment her again. Who and what on earth was he? She just could not comprehend him from any angle no matter how hard she tried. He had the appearance of an angel but the aura of a devil.

The face of Messiah but the heart of Satan.

Hamuko got off the bed but quickly looked back, hallucinating about his reflection on the glass window to the outside. He had only appeared during the Dark Hour but even then Hamuko not shake off the suspicion and the unbridled feeling of terror even when not in his presence. After spending a few minutes inspecting and making sure, she left the room and saw Mitsuru at the counter.

The redhead informed her about the condition of her team mate. Yukari had regained consciousness but the boys did not. Akihiko in particular had suffered a more gruesome injury to his arm and the doctors were not sure if he would ever box again.

Hamuko gulped when she took in the information. The shadow was defeated but the operation was still a complete disaster and for that reason, the SEES had been suspended for the time being. A part of her felt a pang of guilt but at the same time she was somewhat glad her friends would not go risking their lives again.

After hanging around the hospital and building up her stomach, Hamuko visited Yukari and her popular brunette friend looked nothing less than a corpse either, physically abused from the fight and mentally tortured for the failure.

"Y-Yukari..." Hamuko murmured, catching her attention but Yukari was not keen to have a conversation. She crawled under the blanket and gave a muffled sob, signaling Hamuko to leave her alone for the time being.

Hamuko let out a low sigh and looked towards Akihiko who was indeed as messed up as Mitsuru had told her. Knocked out unconsciousness with his arm bandaged up numerous times over. Next to him laid Junpei, a track of icicles and frost damage from the wrist of his left arm all towards his right. Previously she had the foolish notion of being able to make a difference but... if someone like Akihiko had failed... What good was she? Most likely if she had went along the team would have died as she was just a liability.

Dejected, Hamuko left the room and quickly ran out of the hospital.

Minato inspected the corpses that were the result of the crash. A good amount of people had lost their lives but even if her time had not come yet, witnessing Yukari struggle for breath made him agitated just like the night before. He knew her after regaining his old memories but there was still something amiss. Looking at her made him guilty, as if he had broken an old promise after swearing an oath.

"That girl..."

No matter, the Dark Hour was mere hours away and just like he had promised, the life of the girl was going to be a living hell until the end of her miserable existence. He could actively interfere in the matters of the mortal world without severe consequences but he had his ways, especially since the girl was unusual in the way that he was able to stabilize around her during the Dark Hour, for whatever reason.

That allowed him a little bit of freedom for an hour from his constant work. He did not know the reasons why but that little freedom was one way to drag the fool towards his world. All that was needed was a small push.

A jump.

From the rooftop of the dorm.

Where she should have died a few weeks ago but no matter, there was still plenty of time to right that one wrong.

He was neutral and did his work like he was expected to do so. But at the same time, there was a 'myth' about him being a vengeful grim reaper to the mortals who crossed him and the girl was foolish enough to do so.

Hamuko stalled going back to the dorm, almost maxing out the credit card of her father during the desperate shopping spree to rid her mind of the demon. She returned to the dorm when it was late and a sad sigh escaped her lips when there was no one to greet her. Mitsuru had informed her that she would have to spend a few nights at the hospital and at the headquarters of the group as there was a massive breakout of panic regarding the accident on the tracks.

The entire city was mourning and a few had begun to launched various conspiracy theories at the Kirijo Group, ranging from mind control to fifth generation warfare. If only they knew. Despite the rocky relationship she had with Mitsuru, the brunette did feel sorry for her as a single failed mission had plunged her entire island into chaos and anarchy.

Hamuko closed and locked the door to the dorm but kept the lights on, even more fearful now that she had returned and was alone. She found some pizza that Mitsuru had ordered for her and quickly munched it down. After a quick cup of coffee, Hamuko dashed up the steps without pause, not stopping until she was inside the safety of her room. She locked the door and then the windows, switching on every light and then just curling up in the blankets.

There was the fear of Minato but there was also the guilt she had for her friends. She was not a part of the group but that did not mean they were not friends, especially Yukari who was like a sister to her.

"Why did this had to happen...?" Hamuko muttered into her pillow hoping to muffle the sound of her pitiful sobs.

Her head still ached from the cocktail of drugs and she knew there were more side effects on the horizon. She had already texted her classmate that she would have to skip school and she could already see the next few days that she would be forced to spend in the dorm, alone.

"When will this end...?"

"That's really simple..."

The cold voice led to her biting the pillow, teeth gnawing on the fabric while she took a look behind her from the corner of wide eye. In her grief she had no idea that the Dark Hour was underway and HE was back.

Minato was sitting on the chair next to her desk in reverse so he could focus his attention on her. His scythe was his side and Hamuko paled, immediately jumping off the bed to make a run for it.

Minato merely held out his scythe to stop her and Hamuko obeyed out of fear, falling backwards on the edge of her bed, spine first. She did not even blink when Minato stood up and walked towards where she was, standing next to her cowering frame. Even with all the dread she had for the boy, she could not help but look up at him, sneaking glances at his that seemed chiseled out of light and diamond.

She also the mess that she in his exposed silver eye. A tilt of his head and Hamuko saw the expression on her own face, a mixture of horror and awe. There was an inkling in the back of her mind to reach out and touch him, make sure he was actually real but she feared that doing so would burn her.

"I-I'm sorry." Hamuko apologized, clasping her shaking hands in apology. "F-For what I said to you last night. P-Please forgive me."

Minato broke the posture with the blunt end of his weapon and Hamuko gasped, arms falling limb and numb. Her neck froze next when Minato sat on his haunches, leveling his stoic face with hers.

"Sorry, are you?" Minato wondered with half a frown.

"Y-Yes," Hamuko replied with another shiver. "Please forgive me... and leave me alone."

"Do you want my forgiveness?" Minato said, tilting his head closer. Hamuko gasped at the close proximity but shut her mouth at once when she witnessed the flicker of annoyance on the face of the blue haired male. "Do you?"

"Y-Yes, as long as you leave me alone." Hamuko whimpered again. "I want to be normal. Please, please just stop tormenting me."

"Very well." Minato said, giving her a bit of hope but he quickly spoke. "Next month, there will be another full moon. Make sure you join the rest of your group this time. Kill the beast that appears and I will forgive you."

"I..." Hamuko stared at him. He was asking him to go and battle those monsters?

"If you accomplish that, I will forgive you." Minato offered the deal but Hamuko was too shaken up to respond.

No. No. No.

She had suffered at the hands of shadows and the fact that her friends were in the hospital was another reminder of the certainty. The certainty of death against the monsters called shadows.

"I-I can't." Hamuko responded much to the ire of the blue haired reaper. She saw him tightening the hold around the scythe and was fearful that he would slice her head off properly this time. Instead, she heard a click of his tongue in obvious displeasure.

"You are worthless." Minato spat out standing up once more. Now he was back at the starting, looking down upon her like a piece of trash past redemption. "Fine then. I suppose you want to be disciplined in the worst possible way."

The scythe dragged along the ground, stopping at her pinky. Hamuko took a second to process and then blanched. She pushed herself off in wild desperation and fell back on the back, shaking her head in denial as Minato simply came closer and closer, scythe raised to her level.

"K-Keep away from me!" Hamuko half shouted and pleading with her back now against the wall.

There was just no stopping him.

Or the terror that he brought.

Even the marvel of his appearance was not enough to get rid of the emptiness.

The scythe flew at her head and Hamuko gave up, for the second night in a row.

There was no comprehending him.

"..."

Mitsuru opened the door to her room and gasped, her tired head aching when she saw Hamuko unconscious against the wall in almost the exact same pose as before with her eyes and mouth wide open. The first thing this occurred Mitsuru rushed over at once but now she stood and thought for a while, hand under her chin because this made no sense. Hamuko suffering daily mental breakdowns made no sense.

She looked towards the corner of the room where a camera was supposed to be until the brunette ripped it off. Mitsuru then looked back at Hamuko and pinched the bridge of her nose.

She had to see for herself.

Either Hamuko was attacked by someone, be it a shadow or a demon.

"..."

Or she was mentally ill.

The camera footage would reveal all.

* * *

**Author NOTE!: Yaaaaay! Big surprise. Yes yes I know. I quit and I actually did (the lack of support did that ngl, thought I was wasting my time so I started working on my thesis) but then, stuff changed.**

**I tested positive for coronavirus about a month and a half ago. It was fine at first but then took a bad turn and I was even hospitalized cause every breath felt like a stab in my lung. It's been close to 40 days now but moi has recovered! Tested negative thrice in a span of two days and now I am bacccccccccccccccccccck!**

**It was pretty brutal ngl. I wouldn't wish it on anyone and I hope all of you stay safe. Please stay at home and keep yourself and the people you care about safe. We will get through this but until then do not take the risk and wait it out. My symptoms were fever, a bad cough (the worst, thought I was going to cough out my innards) and then one day eating pizza felt like I was eating burned electronics and a complete loss of smell. Note these down and spread, save and inform as many people as you can. There are a lot of promising treatments coming along but just avoid the thing all together until this is over and it will end soon!**

**Oooops. I rammmmmmbled but I wanted to let people know. If this spreads awareness and helps then I am happy. With not much to do here I am working on this again My other stories are discontinued but as long as we are here I will continue this one cause I adore the idea. And the ship. Especially the ship!**

**Big thanks and hugs to my co-writer who helped me. You're awesome.**

**Even if I was demoralized at the lack of feedback... It feels good to be back. Thank you for reading!**

**I am still suffering from mild exhaustion so this was on the short side. Next chapter will have the second full moon.**

**AGAIN. Stay safe people! God bless you all.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author Note: Hello! I want to get this out first. Thank you all so much for the concern. I deeply appreciate and thank everyone of you. Love you all. I am all better now and I pray each one of you are safe too. Again, thank you so much. Not much else I can say, hehe. **

**We are back to his story and I have every intention of completing this. Hitting the fast forward because this was never intended to be a novelization but now that the themes have been built up, time to start the real purpose of the story.**

**Also with the hints... yes I somewhat ship Mitsuru x Hamuko too. XD**

**I hope you enjoy this and I look forward to your opinions. **

**Again. Thank you.**

* * *

Mitsuru got off the phone with a top psychiatrist and began to ponder on the professional advice given in regards to the clearly unstable junior present in the dorm. She had studied a good deal of psychology and knew a fair amount about some of the more common mental conditions but that knowledge was hard to apply when there was an obvious supernatural force in the already muddled equation.

"Is Hamuko being targeted by the shadows?" That theory did hold a bit of water but was ripe with contradictions. Shadows usually did not kill and only fed on the minds of the victims but the situation was opposite for persona users and shadows attacked them without mercy. Hamuko was a persona user, even if she had summoned just once and resulted in something she had never encountered before, a persona bursting out of another persona.

That left a few vague hypotheses but nothing solid. Mitsuru even wondered about the possibility that the summoning on the roof was a one time fluke and Hamuko was not actually a full and fledged persona user like her other team members.

Mitsuru began to dial another number, of the hospital branch where the said members were recuperating. Yukari would be the first to recover but Mitsuru was greatly concerned about Akihiko who would not be able to box ever again after the injuries he had suffered. After a quick call, the leader of the SEES began to pace in her room, miserable after days of having to deal with the sadness of her team and Hamuko.

In hindsight, she was glad that Hamuko had not joined the team as the girl clearly had other issues to deal with. If her hypothesis was correct then Hamuko would be a target for the shadows for a long, long time but the upperclassman was determined to keep her safe and get her first rate treatment for whatever she was suffering.

Over the next few weeks, the situation stabilized enough for some normalcy to return as Yukari was the first one to be discharged. Junpei followed and Akihiko was the last one as he had the most severe injuries. With the group suspended and Tartarus operations out of question, the teenagers returned to normal school life for the time being.

After another strong concoction of drugs, Hamuko was able to regain her senses and return to school. She did not come across Minato ever since the last episode but regardless, Mitsuru set up an appointment with a top psychiatrist and Hamuko had no choice but to come clean with the slight hope that Minato was not actually real and just an illusion of a diseased mind which was far more bearable.

The doctor suggested a number of drugs in case of another episode and Hamuko brought months long worth of medicine just in case, although she did feel the drugs were showing a negative impact as she was slower, less focused and more moody but whatever, anything to keep that demon away from her.

Truth be told Hamuko was finally starting to enjoy school life, without the cloud of uncertainty and doom hanging over the head of her friends in the dorm. She was even able to converse with Mitsuru but she did not get too close, concerned that the senior would use that to drag her back and kickstart the group again with a new member.

Moreover, Hamuko befriended a shy, meek looking girl with a knack for bad baking and cooking in general, Fuuka Yamagishi of Class 2-E. Hamuko first saw her getting bullied by a few of her classmates and after yelling them off and helping Fuuka with her stuff, the two formed a friendship which was a nice change of pace as her previous friends all compromised of shadow busters.

That name came up again in the dorm, when Akihiko returned from the hospital one day and informed them that Fuuka was a persona-user.

"She can't fight." Hamuko said before the injured senior could go further and suggest something crazy.

"That sounds about right." Akihiko said with a hint of disappointment. "She is not really cut out for battle as she gets sick quite a lot."

That was not really true but Hamuko did not bother to correct him. The further Fuuka was away from the group, the better. Come to think of it, Fuuka was not present at school for a few days but she chalked that up to her family situation and did not think much of it.

Hamuko returned to her room and dropped her backpack. After a few minutes of applying a little makeup and freshening up in front of the mirror she let out a happy sigh. Finally. Her school life was normal and while the Dark Hour always brought back the gloom she had gotten used to it as HE had not visited her ever since.

"Really.. Who was he?" Hamuko was glad that he had left her alone but a small part of her could not help but wonder about him. Good looking and mysterious boys were just her type but she could do without the terror that he brought along with his every breath. "I really wonder… was that a hallucination?"

Hamuko picked up a package of drug on her table, prescribed to her by the psychiatrist should her symptoms return. Honestly she was prepared to live her life on drugs and while Mitsuru was stern and lectured her about being a victim of shadows, Hamuko brushed her off and always kept the medicines nearby just in case.

"Who cares?" Hamuko set the package back on the table and slipped into something more comfortable for the night but as she laid on the bed listening to her favorite music, she thought about him more. "Maybe if he was not such a demon, we could have gotten along."

His face came up in her daydreaming and Hamuko held back a sigh of disappointment. All the cute boys were either morons or demons, like those animes and mangas. Well, whatever. One last look at her emergency medicines and Hamuko was content enough to sleep.

* * *

Next day, she did not see Fuuka at the school and she would not pick up her phone. Same thing the next day and the next. Maybe she had really fallen sick but she did not know her house address to visit. After asking around a few of her classmates, she did find that Fuuka was at home sick but there was something off. A few more girls from the same were missing and Ekoda, being the failure of the teacher he was, did not seem too bothered by the mysterious disappearances.

"Hey, Yuka-tan, how have you heard the ghost story?" Junpei said as he toyed with the slice of pizza on his plate. With Tartarus gone he had grown bored with just school. He wanted some fun and Yukari's reaction was just that.

"It's just a stupid rumor." Yukari said with no little amount of fear in her shaky voice. "Let it go already, Stupei!"

Not one to turn down ghost stories, Hamuko began to bang her fist on the table. "Tell us!"

"W-Wha?" Yukari was betrayed but the seniors were intrigued as well. Junepi grinned and seized the chance. He switched the lights off to make Yuka-tan shriek and then drew a flashlight from God knows where to begin the show.

When he was done, Yukari was shaking like a leak and Hamuko was somewhat amused, so was Mitsuru.

"Fascinating," The redheaded senior let out a chuckle.

"Oh come on, it's just a stupid story!" Yukari cried trying to get the others on the same page lest she would not sleep the whole night.

"Didn't know you were scared of ghosts, Yuka-tan." Junpei chuckled toying with the flashlight. Hamuko did want to ask him where he produced that from but was entertained enough by the show. "That's kinda funny."

That set her off the moody brunette and Yukari abused the table this time. "Fine! Let's investigate! We'll all ask around for the rest of the week."

"Well, that came back to bite us." Hamuko pointed out but she was still happy with the current situation of the dorm. However, when Akihiko got up and winced when his still bandaged arm struck the chair she grimaced, going back to the disaster at the monorail. Whatever happened there was probably for the best as much as the thought disgusted her. At least her friends were not going to risk their lives in a hopeless struggle against the shadows.

After saying farewell to her friends, Hamuko returned to her room. She gave a quick glance out the window and observed that the moon was nearly full. She drew on the curtains and walked back to her desk, removing her earnings while thinking of how to gather intel about the ghost story.

"Oh well, I'm sure it will be fun." Hamuko smiled and just then, the Dark Hour occurred. She gave a gasp as she always did but quickly calmed down. No reason to panic. "M-Maybe I'll start with the class students, have a little fun."

"Someone's happy today…"

That voice.

Hamuko stumbled far worse this time and clutched the desk to stay upright. The cold voice had returned after so many weeks of absence which meant….

"M-Minato…"

"Although, a gutless fool like you does not deserve any sort of happiness."

The same voice spat out but Hamuko did not turn just yet. She took a few deep breaths and quietly reached for the bottle of drugs on the desk, even when the wooden chair creaked against the floor indicating that Minato had gotten off.

"C-Calm down, Hamuko…" Hamuko said to herself trying to control the shivering. Her hands trembled even just grasping the bottle and the footsteps started. Minato was walking towards her and she still refused to look back.

"The moon will be full again soon." Minato said after he came to a stop behind. "And this time…."

The girl was not shrieking in horror like she usually did. In fact, she was not even responding to anything which was annoying. She seemed hunched over on the table and Minato gritted his teeth.

"Listen to me, you fool." After that snap, he grabbed her roughly by the forearm and flipped her around. Hamuko had to open her eyes and she crashed against the desk when she saw the scowl on his face, which was somewhat amusing.

"Stay away from me!" Hamuko ended up screaming at him, loud enough that he was sure that the other residents heard her. She opened her fist to reveal a number of different drugs and scowled at him half in fear and the other in annoyance. "You are not real! Just a hallucination."

Minato frowned at the drugs in her fist and that soon escalated upon her words. He crossed his arms and sneered, which led to Hamuko gulping down the drugs in one swallow. She coughed and hacked in disgust but to her horror, Minato was still standing there and he was very much real.

"Deluding yourself that I am a figment of your imagination?" Minato was now annoyed and Hamuko, torn out of her stupor at the failure of drugs, soon crashed into the wall. "You keep digging yourself into a hole each time, moronic girl."

"I was looking to make this painless as possible but you just do not know when to stop." Minato shook his head and the missing scythe was summoned into his palm. Hamuko lost it and after another dozen or so drugs, she let out the familiar high pitched scream which finally drew Mitsuru out of her sleep.

"Again?" Mitsuru ran out of her room in her pajamas and broke the lock on the door to Hamuko's room with a tackle and then a kick. She ran inside and saw the mess, the desk flipped over and Hamuko knocked out next to it with the same expression on her face.

Mitsuru glanced at the camera first and yelled at the others to come up. This time, the camera footage would reveal all and clear out the mysteries, although she was hoping that the source was tangible and something she could take care of. A bright student falling to mental illness during the prime of her academic career was a pity as well as a disaster.

* * *

Next day, her fears came true when she saw the footage and there was nothing to suggest that this was the work of the shadows. Hamuko was screaming and freaking over nothing as she saw no one else in the room with her. She was talking to herself and then another person, who was most likely a hallucination of some sort of demon which was the final nail in the coffin that Hamuko was indeed suffering from a mental disease. She gave a bitter sigh and reached for her cellphone to set up another appointment.

"H-He didn't go away." Hamuko trembled on the seat opposite to her doctor who was taking notes. "I took double the dose but he was still there."

"I see." Her doctor mused. "Anything else?"

"Why didn't he disappear like you told me?" Hamuko muttered, fidgeting with her skirt. "Is he actually a real demon?"

"Nonsense, Hamuko-san." He dismissed her notion with a wave. "Medicine has made quite an improvement in the last few centuries and notions about demons and possessions are just not scientifically possible."

"Then why?"

"Perhaps the combination of medicine was not quite right." He scribbled something on his notepad in ugly handwriting and handed her another prescription. "Here, I have prescribed you some other medications, which are quite a bit stronger. These will work, if not, get back to me."

Hamuko recognized some of the drugs from her science readings. She was looking at months and months of negative symptoms and a lot of weight gain.

"F-Fine…"

* * *

This time Hamuko did not wait for him to appear and took her dose daily. The negative symptoms were quick to flare up as she was drowsy through the day, flat and miserable through the week. She was not able to take part in gathering and just barely made it through class. Once home, she would twist and turn in her bed throughout the night.

And yet, Minato came back the next day even with the different dosage. This time, he told her about the approaching full moon and if she did not participate, then that would be the end of her life.

She contacted her doctor again and upped the dosage yet again, to no effect. The torment just continued and Hamuko stopped attending school when the symptoms grew too much to handle and with every day towards the full moon, her condition deteriorated much to the worry of all and especially Mitsuru.

One night, Hamuko came down to fetch herself a glass of milk and saw Mitsuru pacing around in the lounge, with the dreaded armband around her bicep. The brunette knew better not to ask but Mitsuru noticed her stare on her arm after a few minutes.

"We cannot locate Yamagishi." Mitsuru explained with gritted teeth and Hamuko paled further. "If my guess is right, she is inside Tartarus and trapped ever since the girls locked her in the gym."

Hamuko's jaw went rigid and her already dry throat grew unbearable. She clasped the railings of the stairs for support and gulped. "W-What will you do?"

"We have no choice to infiltrate Tartarus tonight." Mitsuru said. "And attempt to rescue her."

"B-But, how?" Hamuko exclaimed. "Akihiko-senpai is still injured."

"I know…" Mitsuru rubbed her arm and glanced down. "This was his decision. He cannot throw punches so he will have to rely on his persona. The three of them will enter Tartarus and I will offer support from the outside."

This had all the makings of a disaster but what could she even say? Leave Fuuka alone to die in that miserable place? She was worthless before and now with the negative symptoms, she could not even walk a few steps without getting dizzy and nauseous.

Mitsuru noticed her fright and walked over, putting a hand to her shoulder. "Don't worry. I will not ask you to join us. Your health is far more important."

"Senpai…"

"Stay here and we will do our best." Mitsuru said. "However, Natsuki Moriyama will be staying for the night. She will be safe but if something happens, can you please inform me via the command room?"

After a few seconds of thoughts and comprehension, Hamuko nodded her head.

"Thank you."

The broken team left for the tower and Hamuko had no choice but to pray. She knew Natsuki was in the other room but made no effort to join her as she was a coffin, most likely. She always found the Dark Hour difficult to endure and with the added anxiety of the drugs and now her friends, tonight was going to be the worst one hour period in her life.

A few minutes passed and with the moon being full, the other resident of the room did not take long to appear and suffice to say, he was more than just the usual angry when he saw Hamuko sitting like a scared duck while the others bled out there.

* * *

"Akihiko!?" Mitsuru tapped the machine and concentrated hard enough to make a vein throb on her forehead but her persona was pathetic in terms of data gathering and all she could do was yell into the earpiece. "Akihiko! Answer me!"

"Separated…"

Was all that she heard over the line and panicked. She cursed her worthlessness and grabbed the rapier that she carried, ready to join her team in a last ditch effort but a roar from the entrance of the tower halted her from activating the access point.

"What now?"

* * *

"You are a waste of life!" Minato had not let up on the berating as he paced around the room, still clutching his weapon of choice while Hamuko struggled to remain conscious. The constant change in her dosage had left the redhead severely confused and drowsy, like a bad concussion that left her numb to even the terror of the grim reaper.

Even when he came up next to her to scream in her face, all Hamuko could do was whimper and plead with him to leave her alone. Not that he listened and with every second into the Dark Hour, the blue haired boy grew more impatient.

"Go out there and risk your life like you are supposed to, you fool!"

"Just leave me alone!"

Hamuko found her voice and screeched at him. That brought the ire back to the face of the blue haired reaper and he slowly moved in her direction but this time, Hamuko did not let up on the scowl on her own face. The worry of her team was already paramount on her head and the boy was just making it worse.

"I don't care what you are, a hallucination or real." Hamuko finally managed a glare and her small fists were clenched, even ready to punch him if need be. "You are a demon, just go burn in hell already."

"Finally found a backbone, did you?" Minato hissed back at her and his voice crawled on her skin but she refused to shy off just yet. "Pity, your so-called friends are still suffering."

"None of your damn business." Perhaps this was another symptom of the dosage, irritability and surge of unexplained anger but she stood up to face the obvious danger in the room, with a hand wrapped around her forehead to control the throbbing. "Why do you even care!? You have a scythe in your hand and death in your breath. You don't deserve to talk, when you don't have an ounce of life in your rotting body!"

"I am a waste of life? You never had a life to begin with, you damn abomination."

Those words stirred up something deep inside his usually cold heart and Minato paused for a second, his other fist decaying to a white color with a black liquid escaping his freshly pierced palm.

"Watch your words…." Minato warned and while his volume was low, the hosility in his voice was far greater than ever before.

"Or what?" Hamuko wobbled on her feet, swaying unsteadily. "Are you gonna kill me? Go ahead and kill me!"

"Watch your mouth, girl." Minato warned again and got close to her face. She did not back off yet but her eyelids flickered, the intoxication of the drugs rocking her senses. "Unless you want your parents to suffer like your uncle did before his pathetic demise."

Those words pierced her deep and Hamuko finally exploded, lashing out without regard for her own safety and this time instead of yelling, she slapped him hard across the face. The force did not hurt Minato but did tilt his head slightly in the other direction. Another pause followed and Hamuko began to pant this time out of sheer rage as the boy had touched a nerve and she did not care about what he was going to do to her.

"Interesting…."

In a blink, Minato ended back up in her face and a glint of black froze her surroundings while Hamuko could only stare in bewilderment as even the flow of time began to bend upon the surge of ungoldy anger from Minato. He was quiet but the furious storm of black in his silver eye was vulgar enough to even cancel out the effect of the drugs and she shrieked.

A hand to her shoulder sent the brunette flying into the wall behind and she smacked face first into the structure with a sickening thud of impact. She fell on her face and Minato was already moving towards her, now weaponless and chain-less as the scythe was nowhere to be found. Her slap from earlier had left a mark on his pale cheek but that made him look even more dreadful.

A simple death was too good for a fool like her.

"N-No…"

"You just had to." Minato chuckled bitterly but the dead expression on his face did not change. Hamuko glanced at the window and wanted to jump out but that was just not possible with the presence of Minato bolting her to the floor. A second later he was next to her, sitting on his haunches and his bloodied hand twitching.

"Say goodbye to your worthless life."

A rough hand on her head made her trash but another strong hand pressed her to the floor. A struggle was futile and Hamuko could only mutter some pleading under her breath, hoping he would listen and take pity on her but a flood of something evil and dead invaded her mind and Hamuko forgot whatever happened next.

* * *

The whole operation went worse than she had predicted, much, much than what she was hoping. Two special shadows appeared in the lobby of Tartarus and alone, Mitsuru could not put any sort of dent in her foes.

But then, by some miracle, the trio of other persona users showed up, alongside Fuuka who was shaken but still alive. Even with the reinforcements, the teenagers could not put up any resistance and were mostly swatted away like flies by the seemingly impervious shadows that did not flinch at whatever was thrown.

The situation worsened when the girl they left at the dorm, Natsuki, showed up under the influence of the shadows. Mitsuru feared the worst for Hamuko and knew the poor girl was suffering with another episode of her illness.

On the ground and without her evoker, her left leg crippled, Mitsuru could only watch on as the team was beaten to the ground, even more brutal than before as they had to worry about the safety of Fuuka AND Natsuki.

"Save them…."

The third visitor made Mitsuru bleed from her lip. Her worst fears were coming true and even the other teenagers had to gasp when they saw yet another intruder at the entrance of the tower, and this time it was none other than the diseased girl they left in the dorm.

"Hamuko-chan!?" Fuuka was able to recognize her as well but there was something off about her. Much like Natsuki she seemed to be a trance but that did not just snap and Hamuko quite literally began to walk towards her death, deaf to the pleading of her friends.

"You fool!" Mitsuru got off the ground and dove for her evoker just when the Emperor shadow lunged at Hamuko who was still oblivious, caught up in the middle of a war which she wanted no part of.

Her persona managed to shove the shadow but the attempt for her life came nonetheless and she was only able to survive when Mitsuru shielded her and screamed in her ear when the blade pierced a long gash across her entire back.

"Hamuko!" Yukari saw her senpai being swatted to the side and Hamuko alone. "You have to get out of there!"

The Empress shadow took a chance on her life this time and was only barely blown back by the windows of Io. The brunette did not snap out just yet and Akihiko dragged her away from the warzone, until a tornado of wind smacked him into the nearby pillar.

The collective screaming and misery of the persona users was finally able to rattle Hamuko and the oblivious female woke up on her feet. An absolutely nauseating whirring sound of the nearby shadow did the quick work of alerting her to her surroundings and she found that she had walked into the same operation she wanted no part of.

She did not scream just yet and took a painful look around the lobby of the forsaken tower with her friends strewn about and the hallway dyed crimson. Akihiko was already knocked out and the wounds on his arms were opened yet again. Junpei looked hopeless and apologetic as he knew this was the end while Mitsuru was struggling to stand. Yukari was quietly sobbing to herself.

She saw Fuuka as well, hugging the girl that had bullied her and the pot bellied shadow just above the two of them ready to put an end to the life of the two pests.

The exit to the lobby was open but despite the obvious escape and even with her numb senses, Hamuko made a mad dash towards the two helpless females much to the shock of Mitsuru. She came in between and took the wand-like weapon to the side of her body, producing a dull impact and a stabbing pain. She was sure that something else was broken along with the ribs but the impact again lifted her off her feet and her spine contoured around the same pillar she was blown into.

"Hamuko!"

Someone yelled for her to get out but the voice did not quite reach her. Hamuko coughed into her hand and gave a dark chuckle upon the spray of her own blood. One attempt and she was done which confirmed what Minato had told her. She was a waste of life after all.

The approaching gales of wind for her life were endured by Yukari and the pink wearing brunette headed back into the hopeless battle while Hamuko laid there, partially blind and mostly oblivious due to the battle raging around her. She heard a few shrieks every now and then but knew they were fighting a losing battle.

"Lucia!"

Nothing much changed after the summon of Fuuka's persona. The team was too battered to muster up a counterattack by that time, something began to stir up inside Hamuko. She barely moved her good arm towards her throat and clutched the same to suppress whatever was twisting and coiling inside her neck.

The feeling grew more repulsive, of something morbid trying to crawl around in her windpipe. She began to scratch and claw around her thorax but that nothing and the sensation intensified. She now hacked and coughed out more of the repulsive red liquid until she finally felt a firm choke around her neck and the brunette started screaming in pain.

The small flicker of discomfort had now worsened to something akin to lava boiling in her throat and every breath was impossible to get out. She began to claw with hostility, preferring death over the pain as the feeling was unbearable.

A few yards ahead Mitsuru saw the mist escaping her body and the mirage of a familiar persona flickering above her.

'S-She's summoning?"

Hamuko shrieked loud enough to halt the battle and the shadows quickly turned course, attracted by the sleeping shadow inside her. Mitsuru had to get up to defend her junior but a shatter of glass later, Hamuko curled up into a ball and her persona finally came out above her, puny and with no chance of victory.

"Something's wrong!" Fuuka informed after a gasp. There was something building inside the frail persona that she had summoned and her warning came true seconds again, something only Yukari and Mitsuru had seen before.

Orpheus was again torn apart from the inside and the same, terrifying persona, clad in black and blue that had previously emerged from Orpheus on the rooftop emerged, this time quite a bit larger than last time. The other two shadows halted upon the appearance but the mystery persona did not. The beast roared towards the roof of the tower and called upon an attack from the skies.

"Take cover!" Mitsuru said, hurling Yukari behind the pillar as the spheres of destruction rapidly spiraled towards the surface, sure to bring untold levels of destruction but that was the only way out of the lopsided battle. The teenagers quickly distanced themselves from the radius of the blast and the shadows were left to take the brunt of the attack.

The first explosion was vicious enough to reduce the two invulnerable shadows to mushy liquid and the second shockwave leveled the lobby of the tower, scent of decay and destruction burning the nerves of the teenagers who had taken cover. Fuuka sensed the disappearance of the shadows but that did not stop the berserk persona from calling forth more of the same attack in succession, with Hamuko being left alone in the lobby screaming much the other night under the strain of the deathly persona.

Any and every scream for her to snap out was lost somewhere in the sounds of explosions and the brutal destruction continued, every new attack from the persona torturing the soul of the brunette girl until the last wave of destruction crumbled the pillars and Hamuko fell forward in a motionless heap, motionless and lifeless. At last the chaos was put to an end but Hamuko was not breathing.

"Hamuko!"

Mitsuru was first to run at her and she pulled the junior to her lap, pumping her chest but nothing worked. The rest quickly gathered around and Yukari started rapid firing the spells into her exhausted body, praying and begging Hamuko to wake up. The girl had saved them yet again like she did at the rooftop but this time, that might have come at the cost of her life.

Nothing was working but for Hamuko, she was no longer present among her friends.

Hamuko heard static and had a foul taste in her mouth. She was aware but could not move or even talk, a more frightening version of the locked in syndrome she had read about but this was just not another symptom of the medicines she was taking. With her one open eye, she knew that her friends and the lobby where she most likely died had disappeared and she was in some other realm, a vast expanse of black nothingness as long and far as she could see.

She saw a pair of boots and then glanced up, finding the same blue haired boy glancing down at her. The mark on his cheek had now worsened into a prominent wound from her slap earlier and there was something different about the normally stoic and impassive boy. He seemed angry but a little shaken overall.

The scythe was close to her face and the chain was wrapped around her waist to keep her from escaping. She had something to say and scream but locked in her own body and aware of what was going to happen, she just waited for her demise while her eyelid flickered.

"Good riddance…."

Hamuko saw his boot coming down and she was cast back into the darkness below when he stomped on her face to end her misery.

"Waste of life….?"


End file.
